She Walked Away, Now I Must Follow
by The Alternative Source
Summary: He looked down at all the paper work and programs she had left open at her desk. She had given him the tools to find her because she trusted him, she relied on him. And he wouldn't let her down, "We can do this. We will find her." *Sequel to Let's Walk Away, You and Me*


**She Walked Away, Now I Must Follow**

**By The Alternative Source**

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Popular demand helped give birth to this bad boy. And with all the feels from last week and this week…damn. Enjoy and tell me what you think.

P.S. Let's just say that Moira figured everything out about their nighttime activities. All of them.

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Seeing Felicity walk away with Slade had been the hardest thing Oliver had to do in his life. To watch her ignore him; not look at him. It had been torture. But that's all he could do, watch, because he was tied up, wounded and barely conscious. Oliver laid there and watched her walk away.

But he couldn't think of that right now. Right now he had to think about getting to his room. He couldn't breathe. He needed to get away from the shaken up eyes of his sister and mother. When they had returned to the mansion he had insured that they had three times the amount of security before bolting to his room. He felt like he was barely holding himself up.

When he got to his room he barged in and slid his body down the back of his bedroom door. Bringing his knees up he rested his arms against them. His chest felt like it was fluttering, strokes of pain and panic shot through him. He hadn't felt like this since the first days on the island. Lost; not knowing what to do.

He was sure that his mother was going to die when Slade turned away from her. Another life would be lost because of the things he had done on the island. And…and then she had appeared. Out of the shadows she had stepped forward and took control. She had leashed in Slade with the news that she was his daughter. His 'go to girl' was the daughter of his mortal enemy. The woman who stood side by side with him was the daughter of the man who swore to kill him. It blew his mind but didn't stop him from wanting her here by his side.

She hadn't looked at him. As he screamed and thrashed for her to move away from Slade; to run. She had stood her ground and ignored him. He couldn't understand until now what that had meant. Felicity had taken it all upon herself and kept Slade's anger and hate focused on her. Because if he truly was focusing in on them they would be dead; his mother would be dead. And it was all because of Felicity.

Placing his head in his hands he felt a sob escape him as his eyes watered. How the hell had things spiralled out of control? How had he not seen? How had he not known?

He didn't know how long he spent pulled into himself like that thinking about Felicity. She was gone. Left at her own volition for him, for his family. Slamming his hands down his mind flashed back to her face. She hadn't been scared and he realised that neither should he. He cared for her more than his family knew. More than his other teammates knew. She was his light in the darkness. And he would be brave just like she was. He would do it for her.

Pulling himself up he pulled out his phone and dialed Diggle's number. When the man picked up Oliver could tell that he already knew something was horribly wrong. His voice was panicked and Oliver knew that he was driving as fast as he could to the Queen mansion.

"Oliver! Are you ok? I just got word of the accident. Are you ok? I can't get in contact with Felicity."

Oliver placed a hand on his forehead and swallowed, "I'm not ok. He took her Diggle. He took Felicity."

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They arrived like a silent storm at the Queen Mansion. Diggle, Sara and Roy had entered his room without a knock, without a word, without a sound. Their faces were hard like stone and they seemed to be ready for whatever Oliver needed of them. Closing the door behind them Diggle spoke first.

"Explain."

He told them all. How a car had rammed into theirs. How Slade had tied them down and almost killed his mother. How he had thought everything was lost until she had appeared out of no where and saved them. He told them that she had found out that she was Slade's daughter and had calmed Slade down like he had never seen before. Felicity had been able to convince Slade to come with her. To go home apparently. The police had appeared then. Felicity had apparently thought of that too.

When he had finished, the room was silent. Each and every person was ramrod straight and tense. Sara let out a 'fuck' while Roy's fists visibly shook in anger. Diggle stared Oliver down and he knew what Diggle was going to say.

"We promised that we would protect her," Diggle growled out.

"I know," Oliver looked up at the man, regret clear in the tense way he held himself.

"We promised that we wouldn't let her get hurt," Diggle continued.

"I know! I know!" Oliver shouted, his hands came up and clenched on the side of his head, "I know the things we promised. And we failed. I failed. And all that matters now is that we get her back."

Roy shuffled his feet for a second after the outburst before speaking up, "I know this is really important and I'm all for finding Felicity and finishing off Slade once and for all but…but where's Thea?"

Oliver took a deep breath before looking over at Roy, "She's in her room. The doctor had to give her a sedative after the accident. She was…she couldn't handle it. Can you go check on her?"

Roy nodded, appreciating 'the out' Oliver was giving him to check on Thea, before making his way out of the room, "I'll be back in 5."

Oliver took off his soiled jacket and threw it on the end of his bed. His back to his friends, he hoped that they couldn't see the emptiness that he felt. Diggle had been right in what he had said. He had failed to protect her. But that wasn't going to stop him now. He was going to get her back.

"I didn't report Felicity missing," he said as he turned back to his companions.

"What do you mean you didn't report her missing? If Slade has her then we need to let the police know. Give us a better chance of finding her," Sara said, eyes wild as she looked at him as if he was mad, "Oliver you know what Slade is like. We can't leave her with him."

Before a couple of weeks ago he would have agreed with her and been surprised at the drive to find Felicity now. But weeks before he and Sara had had a heart to heart. They had realised that things were not working out. That they weren't the same people and that he needed someone with a 'light' to guide him out of the darkness that his life had become. And that wasn't with Sara. Oliver didn't expect Sara to tell him that he needed to open his eyes to what was in front of him. They both knew who he was talking about. No names were used but Sara made it perfectly clear that Felicity was the one that he needed in his life. Sara respected Felicity's kindness, her bravery and her mind more than she had ever thought she would. And she wanted both himself and Felicity to be happy.

He had agreed with the breakup. He had agreed that they were different. But when it came to Felicity…he hadn't responded. Hadn't told Sara that she was right. Every single thing she had said was right. Felicity was the light in his life. The shining beacon in the void that had become his world since Slade had returned. But nothing could be done about it then when Slade was still around. And now it was too late. He had lost his opportunity to explore what she was to him. Nevertheless, when he got her back he wouldn't waste anymore time, he promised himself that.

At that moment Roy came back into the room. They would have to catch him up in a bit.

"We're not going to leave her with him," Diggle said as he went around the room and sat down in a chair. Sara and Oliver followed.

"We aren't leaving her. I didn't tell the police because it would just hinder our investigation. The system that Felicity has is state of the art. We could do better work there. If we involve the police it could make Slade dig deeper and hide her even more than he probably already is," Oliver thought of the look on her face, the certainty that this would all work, "You didn't see the way that he looked at her. It was real. Felicity is his daughter and he pulled away from his vendetta against me for her. If he's not being pursued then he won't dig himself into a hole that we would never find. And we both know what Felicity will do. She'll keep him focused on her until we come. She did it tonight and she'll do it till we get her."

"Ok, what's next then?" Sara asked as she stood next to Roy.

"We're going to do what she expects. We're going to stick together. We're going to figure this out. And we're going to get her back," he answered with conviction.

They were about to break out into what their plans would be next when a knock came from bedroom door. Oliver walked over and opened the door. He took a step back in surprise, "Mom?"

"Oliver. Can we talk?" Moira asked. She had cleaned herself up and had changed clothes but her face still looked haggard, run down.

He really wanted to talk to her, hash out everything that had happened, but he couldn't right now. He had to find Felicity, "Can it wait a bit?"

"No," she shook her head, "It really can't. I need to talk to you about your assistant. I need to talk to you about Felicity."

Oliver sighed and opened the door. His mother eyed the other two people in the room. He signaled for her to come in. Closing the door once more he turned to face the room, "She might as well be involved. She knows."

"Everything?" Sara asked incredulously.

"Yes Sara. Everything. Once I figured out about Oliver it didn't take long to connect the dots to Ms. Smoak, Mr. Diggle and yourself," Moira walked over to where Diggle sat and took a seat, "Now what are we going to do about getting Ms. Smoak back?"

The question threw him off, "What?"

"You heard me Oliver. What are we going to do about Felicity?"

He came to stand closer to her and shook his head, "Mom. You can't be involved in this."

"I'm already involved," she countered.

"You don't understand, we'll handle this. I promise we'll get her back. We will. But I can't have you involved in this," Oliver pleaded. The last thing he needed was another person he cared about out there and in danger. Especially after what they had gone through tonight.

She focused on him for a second before asking, "Oliver, do you not see what that girl did tonight?"

"What are you…of course I know what she did. She lured Slade away. She's known me for a while and she cares for me as much as I…"

Moira shook her head as she interrupted her son, "No Oliver. She put us ahead of herself. A girl that I don't even know. A girl that I have threatened…put our lives, my life, Thea's life, your life; ahead of hers."

Oliver was startled to see that tears pooled in his mother's eyes. He had never seen any sort of emotional display for anyone besides family from her and it was scaring him, "Mom? What's wrong?"

She seemed to pull herself together as Oliver spoke and her eyes became determined, "I was wrong Oliver. And you know this is hard for me to say. But I was wrong about Ms. Smoak. I don't care what we have to do. We are getting that girl back. Her sacrifice will not be in vain. We will find her. Do you understand?"

Her hands were shaking lightly by her side and Oliver couldn't deny the fact that he had never seen his mother like this. She was livid. Somehow along the way, what Felicity had done had sparked something in his mother. And he knew that she would do anything in her power to help him get her back.

"I understand."

Moira looked away and swiftly dried her face with her hands, "Where do we begin?"

The answer was obvious to him, "The foundry. We start there."

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On the ride over he had explained to his mother everything that had to do with Slade Wilson. From his enhanced strength because of Mirakuru to his vendetta against Oliver. Of course she took everything in stride, she was on a mission just like he was. Moira Queen was out to repay a debt.

In no time they were at Verdant. It was strange standing there in the foundry with his mother. As they entered they were quiet and when they saw the computer set up they went still. There was a video set up and waiting to be played. Without a doubt they knew it was from Felicity. Oliver walked forward to her desk. He pushed her chair to the side; it was her chair and he couldn't bring himself to sit in it. The others came over when he hit 'play'.

Their eyes were treated to the image of Felicity up close, her lips pinched in concentration. She was obviously trying to adjust the camera as she sat in her chair. Moving it two more times she gave a groan of frustration before letting it be and sitting down on the chair. She was wearing the same clothes that she had on when she confronted Slade and in her lap sat the stuffed rabbit. His shoulders sagged as he realised that she must have filmed this right before she came to him.

Her face was flushed as if she was running around. Her shoulders were pulled back as if trying to give herself strength to do this. And her eyes were red rimmed, as if she had just finished crying. The image tore at him.

She cleared her throat before beginning, "Hi. I'm not going to go the stereotypical way and say 'If you're watching this then I'm gone.' This is not a 'death video' or a 'goodbye forever video'. If everything has worked out well…this is a 'see you soon' video. Because I know it'll take time and it'll be hard but you will find me. I know it."

"A little bit ago the impact sensors went off in the vehicle you were taking Oliver. And before you ask I've tagged more than just your shoes to keep you safe," she looked down and fidgeted with the stuffed rabbit, "to keep you all safe."

Looking back up she scooted forward, "I'm coming to get you Oliver. By now you know about Slade. You know that he's my father. I know I should have told you. I should have figured it out sooner too but…I didn't know. And when I found out I…I didn't know how to tell you Oliver. Or Diggle. I just didn't want you to be disappointed in me."

Her face fell and her eyes brimmed with tears, "The man who caused you all this pain was my dad. And I'm so sorry. Oliver I'm so sorry."

He wanted to reach out and comfort her. She didn't have anything to be sorry about. He felt himself crumble as she began to speak through a sob.

"But it'll be ok. I promise it'll be ok. I'm coming. And if everything goes alright I'll take Slade away. I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you anymore."

It wasn't her job to protect him. He had always told himself that. It was his job to protect her.

"And that's where the next part comes into play. I've already set up the final steps for the Mirakuru cure. It should be done soon and they'll contact you. Once you have that then comes the really hard part. I don't know where I will take Slade but you have everything you need here. Every file on this desk and every program on this computer will help you. I'll keep the tracker in my shoes on for you to track me. But from what you've told me about my…about my dad he'll take the first opportunity and check so I don't know how long you'll be able to track me."

She looked down at her phone before looking back up with imploring eyes, "I've got to go now. I'll be ok. No matter what you've told me about Slade…he won't hurt me. I know he won't. You'll find the cure, and in time you'll find me. Before this, before you guys I was alone. Didn't have any family. And then you guys became my family. I love you guys. Every single one of you."

She leaned forward as if to turn off the camera and paused. She let out a sigh and looked up at him. He swore that Felicity was looking at him as if she was there now, "It'll be ok Oliver. I know it'll be. I've always trusted you and I'll continue too. I love you Oliver."

And then the feed was gone and the video stopped.

The room remained silent as he felt various emotions rush through him. Anger at Slade for taking her. Fear that she wouldn't be as safe as she thought. Pride that she was being so brave. And most importantly love. She was his best friend, his confidant, and he without a doubt loved her. To what degree he wasn't sure yet and would only discuss with her when the time came. But for now the fact that he loved her would have to be enough.

"Oliver, these plans," Diggle said from his side as he looked through the files on Felicity's desk, "she was ready. She gave us everything to find her. We can do this."

He looked down at all the paper work and programs she had left open at her desk. She had given him the tools to find her because she trusted him, she relied on him. And he wouldn't let her down, "We can do this. We will find her."

He would find her.

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AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this piece. I think I have one more piece in me if you guys want. Tell me what you think! :D *toodles*


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